wandering hearts | hiccup haddock iii

viii

"[Name]?"

The young Viking looked all around him but there was no sign of his new, plucky companion to be seen amongst the dense forestry.

Shutting his journal—the current page he'd been on filled with arrows and notes centered around some new contraption—Hiccup stood with a puff of breath escaping his chest. He was used to being left behind, but a piece of him had hoped she wouldn't pull the same stunt. It had only been a month since she had saved his ideas from Aegir's grasp; he shouldn't have expected her to stay put around him longer than that.

Turning to start back towards the village, he paused when he heard a snap behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he called for [Name] once more. There was no response.

Too curious for his own good, the boy started towards the sound source with his journal clutched tightly against his chest. The trees crowding the area around him had low branches that snagged on his clothing as he passed. Too busy trying to untangle himself from surrounding shrubbery, he missed the shadowed figure residing above him.

Another series of cracks and pops had the brunet spinning around only to come face to face with wide, [color] eyes. He screamed, scrambling back only to trip over tree roots and hit the dirt floor with a deep grunt.

Laughter echoed over the rush of leaves.

"I thought you saw me!" she snickered as she hung from the sturdy branch, hair swinging.

Hiccup watched her for a moment as he tried to regain his breath from the fall. In the meantime, she swayed back and forth like a flower in the breeze before gripping the tree limb with both hands and expertly flipping off.

"Sorry," she murmured, helping him up. She grabbed the journal he'd dropped as he got to his feet.

"I thought you left," he said, brushing the dirt off himself. It was apparent that his pride had been bruised.

"I wouldn't just leave without telling you!"

He reached for his journal and she happily handed it over to begin picking stray twigs out of her hair. She fixed the feathers she'd adopted over the past few weeks as Hiccup cleaned off his possession. He couldn't believe one offhand comment from him had lead her to that odd hobby. She was a strange girl, without a doubt.

He admired it.

They wandered back over to their previous sitting area, her kicking rocks away as she went. His heart had finally quieted down as they settled back into the soft mossy ground.

"What are you working on this time?" she asked, snatching a hanging twig from overhead and beginning to draw in a patch a dirt with it.

"Something that'll throw weapons."

"Ohh, like an axe?"

"Or a net."

She hummed, trying to imagine it. He could tell by the way her face scrunched up in thought. "Well, if you need any help, I'm around. Building stuff sounds fun."

He looked at her, skeptical of her offer but thanked her anyway.

It wouldn't be until later in their budding friendship that he would realize any help from her was better than anything he could do on his own.

"So she was injured?" Hiccup questioned, fiddling with grass blades in front of his criss-crossed legs as the night progressed. Sleep seemed to be a myth with the adrenaline he received after discovering Toothless wasn't the last of his kind.